Wheat, rice sales monopoly to stay, despite fears

Australia's monopoly arrangement for bulk wheat export sales will remain as long as it benefits farmers and the nation, the Agriculture Minister, Warren Truss, said yesterday.

He made the pledge to a "single-desk summit" of wheat growers in Canberra, amid Opposition claims the Federal Government had put Australia's single-desk marketing arrangements for commodities such as sugar, rice and wheat at risk through its free-trade negotiations with the United States.

Citing the different takes on single-desk arrangements by Australia and the US, the Opposition agriculture spokesman, Gavan O'Connor, said: "The Government has put our single desks . . . squarely on the WTO negotiating table and moreover has agreed to work with the US to eliminate them."

But a "very disappointed" US wheat industry said Australia's single desks were safe.

The chairman of US Wheat Associates, Alan Lee, said: "Again, US negotiators missed the opportunity to correct the trade distortions as practised by export monopolies."

Government-backed export monopoly organisations such as the wheat business AWB have long helped Australian farmers compete in international markets corrupted by protection and subsidies.

Big US grain-trading companies want the AWB monopoly broken so they can buy and sell Australian wheat, but Mr Truss insisted the trade talks had ended "without any concessions" on single desks.

"The Australian Government is committed to the wheat export single-desk arrangements, while ever they provide a net benefit to Australia's wheat growers and the nation's export performance," he said. "In any negotiations we have with the US on the future of the wheat export single desk, the Government will continue to strenuously argue that Australia's wheat export arrangements are fair, they're transparent and they're non-trade distorting."

The single-desk Rice Marketing Board is strongly supported by the state's 2000 growers.

Despite rice being a highly subsidised product internationally, Australia exports rice to more than 60 countries.

The president of the Ricegrowers' Association, Laurie Arthur, said the single desk returned great benefits to farmers and he was satisfied it was safe.

While critical of the trade agreement, the NSW Agriculture Minister, Ian Macdonald, said the single desks "seem to be protected for now", but WTO talks could change that.